Chapter 12: Twenty-Two Hours

Abraham drove, and he did not ask whether he should.

I sat with my phone in both hands and stared at the text.

The house on Maple Court was dark except for one window upstairs.

Connor's SUV wasn't in the drive.

Pippa sat on the front step with her backpack on her knees.

She was in sneakers and pajama bottoms, with the pouch around her neck.

She stood up as the truck pulled to the curb.

I was out of the door before it stopped rolling.

"Baby."

She came down the walk fast and stopped a foot from me.

I didn't grab her.

I'd thought about it for nine days, how I'd hold her if I ever got to.

I stood there with my arms open and my hands shaking.

"Can I?" I asked.

Pippa walked into me and put her face against my coat.

She was all elbows and cold nose, and she held me so hard it hurt.

"Dad's at the Chamber dinner with Brynn," she said into my coat. "They think I'm asleep. I have forty minutes."

"Okay. Okay. Get in the truck."

"I can't stay. If I'm not in bed when he comes home, he'll know."

"Know what?"

"Mom, please. Somewhere with a table."

We sat at my table in the carriage house with a lamp on and a pot of hot chocolate.

Abraham stood in the doorway.

"I'll be in the workshop," he said.

"Are you Roz's brother?" Pippa asked.

"Yes."

"Stay," she said. "Mom needs a witness."

He sat on the bed, a long way from the table.

Pippa put her hands flat on the wood and took a breath.

"I didn't pick her," she said.